CEM’s Ron Dart on Governance

CEM’s Ronald Dart wrote the following as his 1 February 2009 announcement:

With the stench of political corruption filling the air, is it fair to ask how we got to this miserable place? It isn’t hard to see the picture at the immediate level. Power corrupts. Money is merely one form of power. It is as simple as that, and there is nothing especially new about it. I think the founders of our society understood this from history, and perhaps even from the Bible. Power destroys freedom, and it must necessarily be so.

Let me tell you, as simply and succinctly as I can, exactly how it works. Once upon a time, there was a people who lived free. Their government was a theocracy. God was their King. But God held, as a fundamental value, maximum freedom for the individual. To that end, he had delivered these people out of slavery. He gave them what came to be called “The Law of Liberty.” There was very little in this law about enforcement. Only when one man’s actions affected the liberty of others did judges come into play.

Their government, apart from God, was decentralized. Based on the ancient tribal system of family and blood kin, elders governed cities, towns, and communities. There was no central federal government.

But the people quickly learned that freedom had a price. There were bandits who had to be controlled. There were other organized governments that had to be fought off. Yes, God fought for them, but not while they sat at home. They had to go out in the field and fight for their freedom. As long as they stayed faithful to God, life worked. It wasn’t easy, but there is no way to make life easy while maintaining freedom.

That is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn, so let me repeat it. There is no way to make life easy while maintaining freedom. Freedom carries with it a burden, and in the process of time, mostly due to their own failures, freedom for these people was becoming a burden too heavy to bear.

So, a delegation of elders came to God’s man with a request. His name was Samuel. He was getting old, and his sons were starting to abuse their power, taking bribes and perverting justice. So they came to Samuel and asked for a king, like all the surrounding nations.

Let’s be sure we understand what was about to happen. God was going to give them the best man who could be found for the job. He would start out humble, little in his own eyes, even though he was a very tall, handsome man. What Samuel was to tell the elders was the inevitable result of giving this kind of power to a single man.

The prediction handed down by Samuel reads almost like a description of the government we live under today, even though we have a president, a Congress, and a Supreme Court, not a king. The problem is the underlying power structure. When you centralize power in man, you get corruption. Only under the rulership of God is there freedom.

It is a long and painful story, but it has to be told again to this generation.

Although he got a couple of points correct, like nearly all once part of the old WCG, but not part of the Living Church of God, Ronald Dart has rejected various aspects of proper church governance. And he also made a variety of biblically improper assertions that he apparently believes.

Although a bit longer (with certain improper points edited out), here is how I would have suggested that he worded his announcement instead:

With the stench of political corruption filling the air, is it fair to ask how we got to this miserable place? It isn’t hard to see the picture at the immediate level. Lust and vanity corrupt. And even money itself can be one form of lust (1 Timothy 6:10). It is as simple as that, and there is nothing especially new about it. I think the founders of American society understood this from history, and perhaps even from the Bible. Greed destroys real freedom.

Let me tell you, as simply and succinctly as I can, exactly how it works. Once upon a time, there was a people who lived free. Their government was a theocracy. God was their King. But God held, as a fundamental value, that people were to love Him (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and live by His way of life (Deuteronomy 4:4-8). To that end, he had delivered these people out of slavery. He gave them what came to be called “The Law of Liberty” (James 1:25;2:12).

Their government, contrary to the assertions of some, was not truly decentralized. Based on a biblical tribal system, appointed elders governed cities, towns, and communities. There were judges in the localities of all these tribes who in turn were under the authority of higher leaders, who were under the authority of the top human leader, who was under the authority of God, who also made His ways known through His written word (in a sense the “constitution” of the entire nation of ancient Israel). Notice that this is clear from the Bible:

19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. 20 And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”

24 So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves (Exodus 18:19-26).

9 The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:9-10).

But the people quickly learned that God’s form of government involved allowing them to be tested (Exodus 20:20; Judges 3:1-4). There were also bandits who had to be controlled. There were other organized governments that had to be fought off. Yes, God fought for them back then, but they were to obey Him fully.

If they would have remained faithful, they would not have had the enemies that they had, but they failed to fully do what He told them (Judges 1:21-36). When they returned and became more faithful to God, life worked. It wasn’t always easy, and they often strayed from it (Judges 2:10-23).

That is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn, so let me state it another way for emphasis. Living God’s way of life is hostile to the carnal mind (Romans 8:7). Spiritual freedom carries with it difficulties in this life (John 16:33). And few will find and stick with it in this age (Matthew 7:14). Mostly due to their own failures, as influenced by Satan (e.g. Revelation 12:9) and the world’s society (e.g. 1 John 2:15-17), spiritual freedom for most people is a burden that many wrongly conclude is a burden too heavy to bear (cf. Matthew 11:28-30).

And while the ancient nation of Israel had many enemies remain because they failed to obey God (Judges 2:10-23, when a particular enemy arose (1 Samuel 12:12), they decided to do something that they had not done before. They decided that they wanted a different form of governance. They no longer had faith in God’s governance, even though God had his judges deliver them in the past:

11 “And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety. 12 And when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the LORD your God was your king. (1 Samuel 12:11-12)

Thus, a delegation of elders came to God’s man with a request. His name was Samuel. He was getting old, and his sons were starting to abuse their power, taking bribes and perverting justice. The people of Israel therefore felt that they had a pretty good reason for their request (1 Samuel 8:1-5). So they came to Samuel and asked for a king, like all the surrounding nations.

Be sure you grasp this. They had lived under a theocracy. God had been their only King since they left Egypt. And it wasn’t that he governed with a heavy hand. Far from it. As Jesus would later say, “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30). But they did not have faith that the God that delivered them throughout their history was the one that they should trust any longer.

Let’s be sure we understand what was about to happen. They saw some corruption and believed that they had a better government plan. And God was going to give them what they asked for. What Samuel was first to do was to tell the elders was the inevitable result of rejecting God’s form of governance. It was not because the king would have power (Moses and Joshua, for example, probably had vastly more power personally), but because the nation of Israel, like Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:6-7;1 Timothy 2:13-14), rejected what God said because of their own lusts and understandings.

Hear is what God told Samuel to tell them and what they responded with:

10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”

19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:10-20)

The prediction handed down by Samuel reads almost like a description of the government we live under today, even though we have a president, a Congress, and a Supreme Court, not a king. The problem is the belief that humans know more about their governance than God does–humans often do not have faith to wait on God (cf. Galatians 5:5; Philippians 3:20).

When humans reject God’s governance, they get something worse. Only under the rulership of God is there freedom from the slavery of sin (Romans 6:17-18).

It is a long and painful story, but it has to be told again to this generation.

Now some think that the problem in ancient Israel was giving one human too much power, but that is not the actual problem as Moses had more power than Saul (the king that God had Samuel appoint) ever had. The problem is that rejecting God’s form of governance means that people will also reject other laws and statutes. Those that do simply do not have the faith that God wants His people to have.

Despite the fact that the nation of ancient Israel rejected proper biblical governance, notice that God said that He could (the warnings that He gave through Samuel prior, still being applicable though) bless the people:

13 …And take note, the LORD has set a king over you. 14 If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. 15 However, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers. (1 Samuel 12:13-15)

Hence, it should be clear that hierarchical governance is not what God objects to, but the rebelling against obeying His laws, statutes, and commands.

Thus, God will also bless those spiritually who live under human governments, including so-called democracies, monarchies, and dictatorships, if they will obey Him.

The fact that the vast majority of people in the United States have rejected God’s laws, statutes, and commands, we face the dire situation that the corruption in apparently all levels of American government will ultimately lead to the destruction of this nation.

But, individually, if willing and called of God, you can repent. You can faithfully accept Christ, His ways, His form of governance within the true Church, and not be part of those who reject Him.

In the Book of Revelation Jesus warned those who were part of the Church of the Laodiceans to repent (Revelation 3:14-19) (those interested in learning more about church eras, may wish to read The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3). Most do not realize that the Greek term Laodicea is made up of two words that essentially mean “people decide” or “judgment of the people” (see also The Laodicean Church Era).

In the 21st century, most who claim to be part of the true Church of God have rejected biblical hierarchical governance and have decided for themselves which form of governance and what work that God wants them to be part of, instead of being faithful to the form of governance and the work that He has instilled in the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God, which today is represented by the Living Church of God.

Now, this week I received emails from at least three former WCG members who like the information on the cogwriter.com website, but who complained that I am sometimes report negatively about others who were once part of WCG that have different beliefs. The truth is that I often point out from scripture where other groups doctrines/practices/priorities are in error–whether or not that group claims to be part of the COG. None of those critics responded with anything specific that indicated I was in error with what I pointed out–they just seem to think that they can pick and choose and decide for themselves what is right. And as far as my writings about other groups, they seem to prefer “smooth things”, which is not biblically appropriate for me to do (cf. Isaiah 30:10). Those who prefer to believe others may wish to read the article Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders?

Many seem to forget that Jesus repeatedly pointed out the errors in doctrine/practices/priorities with the religious leaders of His day (e.g. Matthew 23:13-36). Although imperfectly, I am trying to follow Christ in that (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1; Jude 3).

Furthermore, Jesus was the one who warned the Christians of Laodicean to repent (Revelation 3:19) and the Philadelphians to hold fast (Revelation 3:11). I try to advise the same thing.

The doctrine of proper church governance is the one that truly has been rejected by nearly all who are not supportive of LCG (there are some who may be confused, while nearly all others have clearly rejected it)–but we in LCG do hold fast to it.

Herbert W. Armstrong was quite correct when he repeatedly taught that is was primarily the rejection of biblical governance that cause most people to leave the Philadelphia portion of the true Church of God in his latter years.

I will also state that this seems to be the case today in the 21st century. But that does not mean that you need to be among those who decide rejecting proper biblical governance.

Some articles of related interest may include:

Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject. Would Jesus vote for president? Is voting in the Bible? This is a subject Christians need to understand.
The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 from 31 A.D. to present: information on all of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
Teachings of Christian Educational Ministries Ron Dart’s confederation (not a church).
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied “son of Kenya”, based up an early 20th century writing.
Prophecy Obama: Prophecies of Barack Obama? Are there biblical and non-biblical prophecies about Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? This is the longest and most detailed of the articles here related to prophecy and Barack Obama.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Are You Saved? Do You Love Jesus? What is a True Christian? What is the Gospel? Evangelist Richard Ames answers those important questions.